HC2 mesh network problem: Help me!

[amazzinibo 0]

To extend zwave signal throughout the house, I added some wall plug as a function of repeaters mesh network: FGS221 <-> FGS221 <-> HC2 <-> FGS221

All Wall plugs FGS221 works correctly, all Fibaro door sensor FGK10x works correctly at each point of the house, BUT devices of other brands (sensors Everspring HSM02 and keyfob Aeon Labs DSA22) works only near HC2. It seems that the devices do not receive the repeated signal.

This is very important, especially the remote control, I want to use to activate/deactivate alarm, but don't work outside the home.

But just bought it worked, I remember testing the sceneactivation 10mt out of garage door..
But today no longer works.
I installed all HC2 firmware updates, I removed and reinserted repeatedly devices, nothing.

Have you suggestions for me?
 

[goran 9]

Same issue here and I have had that from the very beginning.

I have Fibaro wall plugs allover the place, no longer distance than just a very few meters between each and every one, all the way from HC2 to each device.

But the further away from HC2, the more often the devices die. Moving the devices closer to HC2 makes them come alive again.

 

So I don't believe that the wall plugs are relaying the zwave traffic at all.

And as far as I know there is no way to verify that the relaying works.

Rebuilding the zwave mesh does not help.

[petergebruers 1,268]

And as far as I know there is no way to verify that the relaying works.

Rebuilding the zwave mesh does not help.

There is one diagnostic tool and you may not realize you have it... This explanation is in the documentation of the wall plug. You can use it to probe the network:

To test the range:

1) Insert Plug into a mains socket,

2) Press and hold the B button for 10-15 seconds until the LED ring glows violet,

3) Release the B button,

4) Press the B button briefly.

5) LED ring signals Z-Wave network range - see below for signaling modes description.

6) To exit range testing mode press the B button briefly. Plugs relay will not change its status.

Z-Wave network range signaling modes:

LED ring pulsing green - Wall Plug tries to establish direct connection with the main controller. If direct connection cannot be established, Plug will try routing connection with the main controller which will be signaled by LED ring pulsing yellow.

LED ring glowing green - Wall Plug managed to establish a direct connection with the main controller.

LED ring pulsing yellow - Wall Plug is trying to establish routed connection with the main cotroller, via other Z-Wave devices acting as signal repeaters.

LED ring glowing yellow - Wall Plug managed to establish routed connection with the main controller. After 2 seconds the Plug will try again to establish a direct connection with the main controller, which will be signaled by LED ring pulsing green.

LED ring pulsing violet - Wall Plug is located outside the Z-Wave network's range or the network is busy. Ultimately, failure to connect with the main controller will be signalled by LED ring pulsing red. After 2 seconds the Plug will again try to establish a direct connection with the main controller which will be signalled by LED ring blinking green.

[goran 9]

I'm aware of this, but this will only tell you about the communication from the wall plug to the HC2.

And this is not the problem, neither for me nor the topic starter.

All my wall plugs can communicate directly with the HC2.

The problem is that a device that sits right next to a wall plug can NOT reach HC2 in any way, even though the wall plug right next to it has a fine connection and should relay the traffic.

[petergebruers 1,268]

I'm sorry I didn't make myself clear enough. I'm talking about using one wall plug as a probe. I've done this test recently: one controller, one wall plug, one as a probe. And even easier to use a smoke sensor.

I did this experiment to prove that the wall plug acts as a repeater:

HC2 ---long-distance-- (Wall plug 1) --long-distance-- (Wall plug 2)

The first plug is at the edge of the direct communication area. When I put plug 2 close to the first one, it will sometimes indicate green, sometimes yellow. When I move 5 m away from the HC2, the second plug will only show "yellow". So plug 1 effectively works as a repeater. And HC2 & the plug know how to route the messages.

Can't you both apply this experiment to your situation?

[goran 9]

Ok. I see your point. I will try this but so far I haven't found any place where a wall plug can't connect directly to the HC2.

Perhaps I should try a smoke sensor instead (battery operated, perhaps shorter transmission range).

[sonnyboy 11]

 @goran check this out, i think you can read swedish.

Please login or register to see this link.

 

@amazzinibo try goggle translate and see if it helps you

[petergebruers 1,268]

@goran check this out, i think you can read swedish.

Please login or register to see this link.

 

@amazzinibo try goggle translate and see if it helps you

OK, thanks for chiming in! I'd like to add a few things:

-You can rebuild the mesh network from the Configuration, Z-Wave Network tab, under "Mesh network reconfiguration". No need to use lua.

-Start with the mains powered devices, they form the mesh. One at a time is the (my) preferred way.

-After that, do the battery powered devices. Select the device from the dropdown and click "reconfigure". Then wake up the device manually. The exact button press sequence is in the manual of the device. Please check it because it can be confusing, eg Smoke Sensor 1 = triple click, Smoke Sensor 2 = single click.

-When you move a device, it may be necessary to rebuild the mesh.

If you still have questions feel free to ask!

[goran 9]

That seems like an awful lot of manual work for something that should "just work". Although this is Fibaro after all so I'm not surprised. I will try the instructions in the link soon.

 

Over the night I've been running some tests. I have a wall plug that is some distance away from HC2 but that still has a perfect, direct connection to HC2 according to the range test.

I had a light connected to it and a script that turned it on/off with a few minutes in between to make sure that the power measuring confirmed that the wall plug was reacting.

This worked as expected the entire night.

 

I also put five (!) different battery operated devices just next to the wall plug. A smoke sensor, a flood sensor, a vibration sensor, a door sensor, a motion sensor.

The result? Five dead devices! Looking at my temperature log, it shows that the values stopped changing at the exact time when the devices were moved to the wall plug.

I moved the devices closer to the HC2, and they all came alive after a while.

Moved them back to the wall plug, rebuilt the mesh, and... dead again. Move them closer to the HC2, alive again. Rebuilt mesh and then moved them back, dead again...

 

I would say that this is not working as it should.

[petergebruers 1,268]

(...) Also put five (!) different battery operated devices just next to the wall plug. A smoke sensor, a flood sensor, a vibration sensor, a door sensor, a motion sensor.

The result? Five dead devices! Looking at my temperature log, it shows that the values stopped changing at the exact time when the devices were moved to the wall plug.

I moved the devices closer to the HC2, and they all came alive after a while.

Moved them back to the wall plug, rebuilt the mesh, and... dead again. Move them closer to the HC2, alive again. Rebuilt mesh and then moved them back, dead again...

 

Hey, would you like to try one last thing for me? I'm only trying to help...

 

You are running 4.049?

 

Because you have rebuild the mesh, I assume the mesh, composed of the mains powered devices, is up to date. So no need to do that again. I also assume that it doesn't take more than 4 hops (devices) to get to the HC2

 

But maybe the battery devices are not up-to-date. I don't understand why.

 

I've checked one of your previous posts: 

Please login or register to see this link.

You had 4 devices with improbable wake up interval, and I confirmed I had one case alike. Maybe, just maybe, they point to a common problem, maybe the radio signal is disturbed, by aquipment running at 868,4 MHz? Wireless headphones? HC2 too close to a wireless access point?

 

Anyway... you own a Smoke Sensor, I assume it is the first generation FGSS-001. This is an interesting device to use for testing.

• Please take out the battery and push the B button. That is to drain the internal power supply and shut down the device.
• On the HC2 web interface, go to configuration, Z-Wave Network. Select only this smoke sensor under "Mesh network reconfiguration" and "Reconfigure". For battery devices, a command to update nearest neighbor is queued that will be picked up at the next wake up off the device. I know you're an experienced user and you know all this but I'm telling this for the readers that are not so experienced and happen to stumble upon this post
• Now go to a location, close to the wall plug that "Doesn't want to relay". This is important, because the smoke sensor will start probing for neighbors at that location. You want it to detect the wall plug...
• Insert the battery, but leave the cover off. I'm not sure myself but there have been reports that the FGSS-001 responds better to triple click without the battery cover.
• Triple click. This would wake up the device, it gets the "nearest neighbor" command from the HC2 and starts probing. This probing takes longer if you have a lot of devices. I can't give a scientific formula but on my network (70 devices, 50% mains powered) it can take 60 seconds. So I wouldn't touch the device for 1 minute. Unfortunately, you can't see the device woke up, nor can you see that it ended the update and delivered the result to the HC2. I find that very inconvenient.
• A possible issue here is that the triple click doesn't work. I have such a device, and it often doesn't work. But I'm inclined to believe it works better when the battery was taken out and if it's not mounted. I've done some testing. But it's inconclusive. What I would do is, repeat the triple click, wait one minute, for 3 to 5 times. That would statistically spoken increase the chance that the device actually woke up.
• Now the device knows the neighbors it can talk to. It should work as expected. The test you devised, using the temp reporting seems a good one. But I'd use the smoke sensor as probe, like the wall plug. Yo know, long press the B button, white light release button, wait until purple light, push button. Then the device should report "green" for direct and orange for routed. I've double checked that. In my test environment, when I'm between the wall plug and the HC2, the signal is green. When I am past the wall plug (and out of direct range) the light turns orange. The probes are real Z-wave commands sent back and forth witch acknowledgement. So if it's green or orange, the sensor can talk to the HC2 and vice-versa.

It should, indeed, work better than you reported.

 

Good luck! 

[goran 9]

I've been performing some really extensive testing the last few weeks.

Here is the simple summary: No, my Fibaro wall plugs does not relay zwave traffic.

I'm so tired of trying to get basic functionality to work so I'm not even going to bother to post any details about the results. I'll likely just be told to contact support who will tell me to reboot.

[petergebruers 1,268]

Hi goran, maybe your are indeed fed up with it, but I want to offer help anyway. I have to admit it's not merely altruistic. I think I can learn from it! We come to oposite conclusions and that's intriguing. If you want to give it a try... drop me a personal message.